James

Ensure BC children’s success in the
classroom by:
• reducing class sizes to give
students more support and
attention
• increasing teacher librarians,
counselors and special education
support
• increasing funding for kids with special needs
• improving opportunities for aboriginal
children and inner city kids
Research results are clear: the smaller the class size in the K-12 system, the better
the learning for each student. Gordon Campbell’s record is just as clear:
• 2,500 teaching positions cut – that’s a 7.7% reduction
even though enrolment has declined only 3%
• special needs educators cut by 17.5%
• teacher-librarians down 23.4%
• English as a Second Language teachers reduced by 20%
It all adds up to bigger class sizes around the province and less individual attention
for students in the classroom.
It’s time to re-invest in education. That means
reducing class size and hiring the educators
we need to get the job done. For our children.
For our future.
Even Ralph Klein gets it
The Alberta government has recognized the
importance of decreasing class size. Ralph
Klein’s government has launched a plan to
hire more than 2,200 teachers to reduce
maximum class sizes.
In a community as small as this, if you take
away the school, you take away the heart of
the community.
65-year-old grandmother, whose two
grandchildren attended Forest Grove
elementary just outside 100 Mile House.
Stop arbitrary school closures and
create a dedicated fund to help
It closed in June 2004.
school boards deal with declining
enrolments
Gordon Campbell has argued that it is school boards, not his government, that are closing
schools. But by freezing education funding and offloading costs to school boards, he has
created an environment where boards are desperate to cut costs or they will break the law
requiring them to balance their budgets.
Closing schools following a comprehensive analysis of student enrollment decline is one
thing; forcing school boards to arbitrarily close schools because of cost pressures simply
makes no sense. Here’s why: most education costs are tied directly to individual students,
rather than the schools they attend. So closing schools saves very little money, as costs simply
follow students to their new schools. But the disruption and costs that school closures add to
families and communities are immeasurable.
16 BCNDP Platform 2005